Jeju Peace Institute

In the dictionary, ‘a partnership’ is defined as the relationship between the concerned actors and the parties who agree to cooperate for their mutual benefit. A partnership, however, is hard to identify, and it is difficult to build common criteria or principles that can be referred to for all possible events because “a partnership” is often considered as linguistic rhetoric alleged by some politicians. This research aims to draw out the general meaning of ‘a partnership’ by reviewing conclusions of the summit and the agenda that was adopted under the bilateral relationships between Korea-EU, Korea- Russia, and Korea-China. This work is examined on the basis of ‘the Grounded Theory’, one of the qualitative research methods, and the text is interpreted through CAQDAS(Computer-assisted qualitative data analysis software) for the sake of efficiency to increase the reliability of the research results. This research also provides a stepping stone for developing an account of a more systemic and data-centered approach regarding ‘a partnership’, and will contribute to building a theoretical framework for partnership strategy of South Korea. Contents I. Introduction II. Research Methodology III. ‘A partnership’ in Diplomatic Documents IV. Conclusion